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Hundreds of workers at major employers throughout the Tri-Valley have received termination notices in recent months, with big names such as Workday, Chevron and Kaiser continuing their trend of mass layoffs in their local offices.
Tri-Valley employers have cut more than 400 jobs since July, according to WARN notices reported by the state, the highest number of layoffs at large companies in any community across Contra Costa or Alameda counties during the same timeframe.
Pleasanton-based Workday notified 142 workers on Sept. 29 that they would lose their jobs effective Nov. 1.
Also last month, Safeway announced 50 layoffs across its Pleasanton headquarters at 5918 Stoneridge Mall Road and its corporate office at 11155 Dublin Canyon Road.
While not headquartered locally, Kaiser and Oracle were among the other companies with sizable local presences that recently reduced their workforce.
Oracle last month laid off 68 employees from its Pleasanton office at 5815 Owens Drive, effective Nov. 13, and 22 employees at Kaiser’s IT office at 4460 Hacienda Drive are set to lose their jobs effective Nov. 20. The moves follow previous mass layoffs at both companies in recent years, all of which have been among waves of cuts at other locations regionally and throughout the state.
Of the 400+ recent Tri-Valley layoffs, the highest number of cuts at a single employer was from Chevron, which reduced its San Ramon workforce by 178 positions, according to the WARN notice filed by the company, which moved its headquarters out of the city and downsized its local presence in recent years.
One employee at the John Muir Physician Network location at 5860 Owens Drive in Pleasanton was among more than 70 layoffs across the Concord-based healthcare system’s locations throughout the East Bay.
Many of the positions that were eliminated across companies were engineering, management and director roles.
The Workday cuts included more than 40 software development managers, 19 of whom held senior titles, and 21 automation engineers, 15 of whom were senior. The chief technology officer for North America was also among the cuts, as well as a number of vice presidents, including for software development engineering, marketing and product management.
Among the positions on the list of layoffs at Oracle’s Pleasanton campus are senior and vice president software engineering roles, one senior site reliability engineer and five engineering directors, along with engineers across numerous departments.
Engineering and technology roles ranging from senior to entry level are also on the chopping block at Safeway and Kaiser. One digital product manager position and one director of engineering position are set for layoffs at the grocery giant’s Stoneridge Mall Road headquarters, along with senior managers for multiple departments at its Dublin Canyon Road offices and directors of engineering and product management.
The one local position included in the John Muir layoffs was a director of adult and pediatric medicine practice operation.
At Chevron, the 178 employees laid off held many job titles across departments, including more than 20 legal counsel and analysis roles and more than a dozen cybersecurity roles.
While employees at the roles and companies listed in WARN documentation make up hundreds who are set to lose their jobs, the total is not necessarily a net loss in regional job numbers.
Chevron officials said in a statement this summer that the positions cut effective last month would be shifted to its new headquarters in Texas, where it moved in 2024. It has been transitioning operations to that headquarters ever since.
Workday’s recent layoffs are part of a reorganization process “designed to better align team structures with Workday’s strategic growth priorities,” according to the company’s Sept. 29 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“These actions include a reduction of approximately 2.5% of Workday’s current workforce, primarily within Workday’s Product and Technology team, and select leased office space reductions,” company officials wrote. “Workday plans to continue to hire in key strategic areas and locations throughout its fiscal 2027.”
